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[alcibiades_mystery]

55. In my experience, there are three reasons for an adult referring to somebody else as a "bum"

1) The person being referred to as a bum is a member of the Brooklyn Dodgers, or, by extension, some other beloved sports team that seems to tragically fall short when it counts.

2) The person being referred to as a bum is a referee or umpire or other official at a sports game, and the person referring to him or her as a bum is playfully angry about a call.

3) The person referring to another person as a bum is an ignorant asshole.

That's it. That's an exhaustive list.

Now, no doubt somebody will suggest that had I just experienced this "street assault" or any of the kind, I'd feel differently. Well, no. I grew up in New York City in the 1980's. I've experienced multiple dimensions of street assaults, from mob beatdown to spontaneous fistfight to, yes, subway stabbing. The one described in the OP is very mild indeed. A disturbed homeless person threatening you at a bus stop? We called that Tuesday morning on the way to high school. But, even if we set all that aside, I think a modification of Michelle Obama's statement is in order: difficult circumstances don't make you what you are. They show you what you are. The three reasons enumerated above stand.